UN making ready for nuclear disaster ‘worst case state of affairs’ together with use of nukes in Middle East
The United Nations is preparing for a nuclear catastrophe if the Middle East war escalates further.
World Health Organization officials are monitoring the consequences of joint US-Israeli strikes on Iranian atomic sites and are remaining ‘vigilant’ for nuclear threats in the region.
WHO director Hanan Balkhy said: ‘The worst-case scenario is a nuclear incident, and that’s something that worries us the most.’
‘As much as we prepare, there’s nothing that can prevent the harm that will come … the region’s way – and globally if this eventually happens – and the consequences are going to last for decades,’ she told POLITICO.
It comes as in recent days, Donald Trump‘s AI adviser David Sacks warned that Israel could be on a path to ‘escalate the war by contemplating using a nuclear weapon.’
The UN nuclear watchdog said Wednesday that Iranian authorities had reported projectile impact at the country’s only operational nuclear power plant that caused no damage.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) ‘has been informed by Iran that a projectile hit the premises of the Bushehr NPP on Tuesday evening’, the Vienna-based agency posted on social media.
‘No damage to the plant or injuries to staff reported.’
Black smoke rises after fires broke out following US-Israel attacks on Tehran
Smoke billows following a US-Israeli air strike near the Azadi(freedom) tower in Tehran
Agency head Rafael Grossi ‘reiterates his call for restraint during the conflict to avoid any risk of a nuclear accident’, the statement said.
The Bushehr plant in southwestern Iran has the Islamic republic’s only operational nuclear power reactor and was first connected to the grid in 2011, according to the IAEA.
Tehran has been under biting US sanctions since 2018, when Washington withdrew from a deal that granted Iran sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear activities designed to prevent it from developing an atomic warhead.
The US and Israel say that destroying whatever remains of Iran’s nuclear program is one of the central aims of the war.
They have long suspected Iran seeks nuclear weapons, while the Islamic Republic says its nuclear program is peaceful.
In June of last year, the US and Israel targeted shadowy nuclear infrastructure in Iran, hitting sites in Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.
Balkhy explained that although there have not yet been any signs of radioactive contamination in the region, a nuclear incident could cause extreme health problems to those affected.
Referring to the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident and Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, Balkhy warned: ‘I think those who read the history of previous incidents, whether intentional or accidental, are very aware of what we’re talking about.’
Chernobyl officially caused 30 deaths in the first few months following the accident, but people have felt the effects for years, with a surge in cancer and high anxiety amongst those in the area.
And an estimated 110,000 to 210,000 people died from US nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Donald Trump has said there would have been a ‘nuclear holocaust’ if the US had not taken the step at the end of last month to strike Iran.
‘If I didn’t terminate Obama’s horrible deal that he made – the Iran Nuclear Deal – you would have had a nuclear war, four years ago. You would have had [a] nuclear holocaust.
‘And you would have had it again if we didn’t bomb the site,’ he said to press gathered in the Oval Office on Tuesday.
He said those who claim Iran didn’t pose a threat are ‘not smart’ and ‘not savvy,’ adding, ‘We don’t want those people.’
His comments came after America’s top counterterrorism official resigned over the war with Iran.
Satellite imagery shows repair and reconstruction activity at the Natanz nuclear complex months after reported June 2025 airstrikes
Iran’s former president Hassan Rouhani is seen inspecting nuclear facility components in 2021
In an extraordinary and unprecedented move for this administration, National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent announced he was stepping down over his objections to the US launching joint strikes with Israel.
‘It’s a good thing that he’s out because he said that Iran was not a threat. Iran was a threat – every country realized what a threat Iran was,’ the President insisted.
Trump’s AI advisor recently warned that there are ‘risks’ of an ‘escalatory approach’ by Israel.
Speaking on a podcast, David Saks said: ‘Israel could get seriously destroyed.’
‘And then you have to worry about Israel escalating the war by contemplating using a nuclear weapon.’
Sacks urged Trump to find an ‘off-ramp’ and bring the war with Iran to a swift close.
‘This is a good time to declare victory and get out,’ he added. ‘I agree that we should try to find the off-ramp.’
Intelligence gathered in the months after the strikes in June revealed the Islamic Republic desperately reconstructing a program Trump said was obliterated.
The Daily Mail exposed Iranian ‘chillers’ – sophisticated industrial equipment essential for cooling uranium – being frantically moved back into fortified underground positions as early as September 2025.
Iran had been enriching uranium to 60 percent purity, a short technical step from the weapons–grade level of 90 percent, making it the only non–weapons state to do so.
Andrea Stricker, Deputy Director and Research Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said. ‘Iran was about six months from being able to fabricate a crude nuclear device
‘The strikes in June created major bottlenecks in the regime’s capability to build nuclear weapons.’
